


Meet Me Under The Alderaanian Red Berries

by SerStolas



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dorks in Love, Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Mistletoe, Poe doesn't listen very well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 12:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12935409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: After all the Resistance has been through: Starkiller, losing D'Qar to a First Order attack, the Battle of Crait, the leaders of the Resistance decide everyone needs a good reason to celebrate.  In response, Leia Organa draws on the traditions of the Alderaanian Winter Festival and all the festivities therein.  When some of these traditions pop up on base, things get a little awkward between the pining Poe Dameron and Finn.





	Meet Me Under The Alderaanian Red Berries

**Author's Note:**

> Star Wars belongs to LucasArts/Disney
> 
> I wanted mistletoe, I wanted cute, I was not creative with names. Here's the result.
> 
> Happy Holidays.

The top officers of the Resistance were aware of just how much their soldiers and personnel needed a morale boost. From the number of pilots they'd lost to Starkiller, the evacuation of D'Qar, and the Battle of Crait, and subsequent evacuation yet again, spirits were done.

There were new recruits drifting in, victims of the First Order, individuals who felt they couldn't just sit by and watch the Order attack unprovoked anymore, but they were still undermanned and in some cases outgunned. They knew they were safe, for now at least, though, and something needed to be done to improve the spirits of those on base.

One of the junior officers, whose parents had been from Alderaan, suggested, tentatively to General Leia Organa that they celebrate the Winter Festival. Their new base was on a sparsely populated planet, situated in the mountains on the Southern hemisphere, and currently a winter like season was fast approaching. 

Leia considered the proposal for several minutes, leaving the nervous officer sweating, until she smiled beatifically at them and advised she would talk to the rest of the Resistance brass.

And that was how the base had ended up covered in make-shift decorations. There were local bushes that maintained their greenery even in the harsh snow, and a few of those had been harvested to be decorated in common areas of the base. Someone in maintenance had figured out how to put together strands of lights they could use to decorate the base and bushes. Most were colorless, but it helped improve people's moods as the days grew shorter and the nights longer.

The caretakers in the Resistance nursery took their older charges to look through storage rooms and set the children to creating a frenzy of items that could be hung from the bushes. It helped keep the children busy, and it made all but the most dire of souls on base smile to see a bouncing child approach them and present them with the gift of a trinket to hang in their quarters or on one of the bushes.

While the official Winter Festival had only ever lasted about two weeks, the Resistance Brass had declared decorations could go up before that, though any actual official parties would have to wait until the 'Festival' on base.

Poe Dameron was bemused by all of this. He'd grown up hearing about the Festival from his father, and celebrating it as a child, even though it never snowed on Yavin 4. He, Snap, and Jess had absconded with a bush for the rec room generally claimed by the pilots and decorated it.

Finn and Rey had been fascinated by all of this, of course. Except for Empire Day, Finn and never celebrated any holidays, and Rey had never had the chance back on Jakku. Rey took up knitting a chain to string around the pilot's bush (Leia had taught her, to help give the girl a hobby to help her calm down), and then other bushes on base. 

They stared in amazement at all of the lights and the decorations, and got into the spirit of things as much as the children in the nursery.

"It's nice just to have something to celebrate," Rey told the pilots and Finn one evening at dinner as she unknowingly clenched her roll a little tighter in her hand. A lifetime of habits and worrying about your next meal were difficult to break. 

"We haven't even gotten to the best traditions," Jess told her with a grin, offering Rey her roll. 

"Oh?" Rey tilted her head to one side, curious.

"Alderaanian Red Berry," Jess replied.

"Yeah, they won't put that up until the actual celebrations," Snap agreed. "it is both hilarious and awkward, dpending on the person."

Finn and Rey's brows creased and Finn frowned a little. "Why is that?"

"Because tradition says that any two people caught under Alderaanian Red Berry must kiss," Jess informed him, glancing sideways at Poe, who suddenly pretended to be very interested in the beans on his place.

Rey frowned at that. "Why? Why would you just kiss someone?"

"Tradition," Snap replied. "And it's not necessarily a kiss on the lips. Usually they just kiss each other on the cheek and move on, unless it's a couple." He side-eyed Poe himself.

Rey and Finn exchanged a glance. Clearly Snap and Jess were looking at Poe for a reason, and just as clearly Poe was deliberately looking anywhere but the people at their table.

"Weird tradition," Finn said at last. "Kisses were technically prohibited in the Order, not that people listened in the barracks, you just didn't get caught." He shrugged. "We always had to be really careful, not that anyone was particularly interested in me."

"What? Why not?" Poe demanded suddenly, looking up. "I mean, you're nice, you're brave, how could they not be -" Poe blinked, realizing what he was saying and gave a half hearted laugh. "Anyway, I find it hard to believe you were never involved, Buddy."

"Never met someone I wanted to be involved with before," Finn replied, eying Poe, who again was looking everywhere but Finn.

"I er, need to go check my X-Wing," Poe said suddenly. "See you later!"

Finn sighed as the pilot vanished and stabbed a piece of meat with his fork.

"He really is hopeless," Snap commented as he watched Poe go. "And completely oblivious. It isn't as if you haven't tried flirting with him before, he just doesn't notice."

"Tell me about it," Finn grumbled. Ever since he and Rose had returned to the new base, he'd been told he was fairly obvious in his interest in Poe. Snap noticed, Jess noticed, Rey noticed, Rose noticed, even Leia noticed. "Every time I try and just tell him that I like him, either something comes up or he changes the subject, almost as if he's afraid to hear me said the words.

Poe was either blind, however, or didn't like Finn back, which Snap and Jess assured Finn was entirely untrue.

"At least you try and tell him," Snap replied. "I think he clearly isn't actually listening to what you're saying, just what he's afraid of you saying."

"So, use the Red Berry to your advantage," Jess suggested. "Catch him under it and kiss him. But not on the cheek. Make him notice you like him, make your interest so obvious even Poe can't ignore it."

Even Rey looked thoughtful. "I don't know if I like the tradition, but I think in this case, it may be worth a shot," she told Finn.

Finn looked at the expectant gazes of Snap, Rey, and Jess. Finally, he sighed. "Well, I suppose it isn't as if I have anything to lose.."

So the next week when the Alderaanian Red Berry went up, Finn sought Poe out at each opportunity he could wherever it was hung. Somehow, Poe managed to dodge him, every time, to the point where Finn knew that Poe was deliberately avoiding running into Finn in public hallways.

After a week of trying, Finn was about ready to give up.

"Give it one more go, at the party tonight," Jess told him. 

Finn sighed. "I guess."

There was a base wide party that evening in one of the hangers. Decorated bushes were everywhere, and Alderaaian Red Berry had been hung on pretty much every exit, entrance and even a couple of corners.

Finn went to the bar and picked up what he knew was Poe's favorite beer upon entering the party, and looking around, found the pilot talking to Snap and Jess. He made his way in that direction, nodding to Rey where she was talking to Rose and Paige.

Poe happened to glance up and saw Finn coming in his direction, and suddenly was making an excuse to go and talk to another group. By the time Finn reached Jess and Snap, Poe was gone, lost in the mix.

Finn huffed in frustration. "Kriffing flighty pilot."

"You have no idea," Jess said, glaring in the direction Poe had vanished in. "I think this calls for the big guns."

Finn lifted a brow at her.

Jess smiled sweetly. "Why don't you head over towards the far west corner of the hanger? There aren't as many people over there. Snap and I will find our flighty pilot and heard him over there."

Finn sighed. "No, Jess, if he doesn't want to be around me, or talk to me, I don't want to force him. I'll...I'll just wait until things calm down again after the holiday and try to just talk to him again. Maybe he won't be so jumpy."

Jess gave him a sympathetic look. "If that's what you really want..."

"Yeah...I'm going to go talk to Rose and Paige," he told her and Snap.

Finn made himself spend the rest of the evening circulating through the party, talking to various friends. He saw occasionally snatches of Poe or heard the other man's voice, but the pilot was clearly still avoiding him. Finn enjoyed the party, a little bit at least, though he couldn't help but feeling a bit sad that Poe didn't want to spend time with him right now.

As the night wound down, Finn found himself at the bar again, getting a refill for he and Rose. 

As he turned, two drinks in hand, he suddenly found himself face to face with Poe Dameron.

Poe blinked and pulled back a moment after having almost run into Finn's back.

"Hey...buddy, didn't see you there." Poe gave a half hearted laugh. "I-"

"Oh look, Red Berry," Leia Organa's warm voice floated over them both. Both men looked up, and saw a spring of that red berry and leaves above their heads.

"Er..buddy, we don't have to-" Poe was stuttering, a mild look of panic appearing in his eyes.

Finn shoved the two drinks he was holding in the hands of the nearest person, and before Poe could rush away again, he stepped up and pressed his lips against Poe's, an arm sliding around the other man.

Poe was too stunned to respond for the first moment, but then Finn felt him pressing his warm lips back against Finn's, his tongue seeking entrance in between Finn's lips, fingers locking behind Finn's neck.

Finn let his hand get tangled in Poe's dark curls.

Finally, they had to come up for air, and both wore a rather dazed expression as they gazed at each other.

"Who talks first?" Poe asked, his voice a little wry.

"Damnit, Dameron," Finn laughed. "I like you, you Kriffing flighty pilot. I've been trying to tell you for weeks."

Poe froze in Finn's arms a moment, then slowly, hope dawned on his expression. "Really?" He sighed. "Here for weeks I figuered you were trying to tell me you didn't like me in that way."

"Snap was right, you idiot, you don't listen to what's being said, you listen to what you think is being said," Finn said in an affectionate tone. He smiled. "How about this, you and I go dance...then you meet me under the Alderaanian Red Berry again?"

"Oh Buddy, I'll gladly meet you under the Alderaanian Red Berry every year from here on out," Poe told him with a weak laugh.

Leia Organa watched the two boys with a bemused expression as they made their way to the dance floor. She set one of the drinks that had been shoved in her hand on the bar, and handed the other to Rose.

Rose smiled her thanks as she watched Finn and Poe dance together for the first time.

And every year after that, Poe and Finn would meet under the Alderannian Red Berry, in honor of the first of many kisses.


End file.
